The Santa Barbara
County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public’s assistance with a 32 year old
homicide investigation known as the Original Night Stalker case. On July 26th,
1981, 35 year old Cheri Domingo and 27 year old Gregory Sanchez were murdered
while house-sitting a residence in the 400 block of Toltec Way, in Goleta. This
homicide followed a double homicide that occurred in Goleta almost 18 months
earlier. In that case, 44-year old Dr. Robert Offerman and 35 year old
Alexandria Manning were murdered in a Goleta condominium on December 30th, 1979.
Both homicide scenes are located within close proximity to each other and are
believed to be linked to the same suspect.

In
May of 2011, investigators
with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office along with the California
Department of Justice DNA laboratory in Santa Barbara were able to locate DNA
evidence at the Domingo/Sanchez homicide scene. This same DNA profile has been
linked to numerous rapes in northern California, including ones committed by the
East Area Rapist in Southern Sacramento County in the late 1970’s, and the
Original Night Stalker who was responsible for multiple murders in Ventura and
Orange County in the 1980’s. Although a DNA profile exists for the suspect, his
identity remains unknown.

Sheriff’s
Investigators have reviewed the crime reports from these other agencies and
discovered that traces of paint were located in two of the rapes and one of the
homicide scenes in Irvine, California. This evidence is believed to have come
from the suspect in all three cases. Sheriff’s investigators are now exploring
the possibility that the suspect may have come to the area to work on a
construction site, possibly as a painter.

In a new lead
that could help identify the suspect, investigators found that the strip mall
section at 5801 Calle Real, Goleta and the Longs Drug, located at 5875 Calle
Real, initially had a building permit issued to a developer from Sacramento at
the beginning of 1979. The final stages of the project, which would have
included painting the building, occurred during the same time frame as the
Offerman and Manning murders.

If you know of
anyone who either worked on this construction site or has any information about
employees who worked on this project, you are encouraged to call the Santa
Barbara County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Bureau at (805) 681-4150 or the
Sheriff's Anonymous Tip Line at (805) 681-4171.

*The Original
Night Stalker serial killer should not be confused with serial killer Richard
Ramirez who was frequently referred to as the Night Stalker during a deadly
crime spree in California between June 1984 to August of 1985.